U.S. Representative Neil Abercrombie to attend re-opening event

HONOLULU — Phase 1 and 2 of Hamilton Library located on the UH Mānoa campus will re-open to the public on March 29 for the first time since the Oct. 30, 2004 flood. Most of the collections are now accessible, but the library still has not been fully restored. The Hamilton Library Addition, Phase 3, re-opened to the public on Jan. 10, 2005.

"We have come a long way in a very short period of time thanks to the support of the staff, community and volunteers, but there is work that still needs to be done within the building," said Diane Perushek, university librarian. "We are still running on generator power and not all the computer terminals will be available for several weeks, but the most important thing is that our collection is now available for the students, faculty, staff and the public at large, and we will continue to work towards being fully operational again."

Phase 1 and 2 contain almost two-thirds of the library‘s overall collection and houses the Hawaiian-Pacific Collection, Asia Collection, Rare Book Collections, as well as a large general collection of research materials. A paging system has been in place since the mid-November 2004; however, library patrons lacked study space and had limited capability of researching materials.

A re-opening event with U.S. Representative Neil Abercrombie, Chancellor Peter Englert and University Librarian Diane Perushek is planned for 10:30 a.m. on Tuesday, March 29 in front of Hamilton Library.

With over 3 million volumes, the University of Hawai'i at Mānoa Library is the leading research library serving the University, the State of Hawaiʻi and the Pacific Region. The University of Hawai'i at Mānoa Library supports the teaching research and information needs of faculty, students, staff and the community. UHM Library helps preserve Hawaiʻi‘s local cultural heritage as well as providing physical and intellectual access to the world of knowledge.